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Archive for November, 2009

The press releases asks ” Where can you taste over 125+ of the Greatest Holiday, Seasonal & Special Craft Beers-Ciders from 100+ of the best Breweries in the World at one time, in one place?”

The first BevMo! Holiday Beer Fest will be held at Fort Mason’s Herbst Pavilion in downtown San Francisco on Sunday November 15th from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. The event will feature 50+ Holiday, Seasonal & Special, “soon-to-be-released beers. Tickets are $35 in advance, and can be purchased online, or $45 at the door the day of the event.

What is it? “It’s an excursion of Belgian-style and Belgian-influenced beers, six from each brewery. Grab a boarding pass and take a trip to Belgium via Magnolia and the 21st Amendment. The first three beers at each brewery hit the taps on Monday, 11/2 and then both breweries will release a new beer every Monday for the rest of the month. Try all 12 and get the special commemorative glass.”

The beers will be released throughout the month by the following schedule:

21st Amendment

Via – Belgian Single 11/2

St. Martin’s Abbey 11/2

Noir de Blanc- Chocolate Wit 11/2

Brew Libre! Ou Mourir – Belgian IPA 11/9

Monk’s Blood – Belgian Dark Strong 11/16

Baby Horse – Quadruple 11/23

Magnolia

Deep Ellum Dubbel 11/2

Tweezer Tripel 11/2

Gris-Gris – Belgian Grisette 11/2

Gordo – Pumpkin Wit 11/9

Destiny Unblonde – Belgian Pale 11/16

Paint it Black – Belgian Dark 11/23

THIS WEEKEND

Saturday, November 14

The Bistro in Hayward will be hosting their annual Barrel Aged Festival, which will feature beers aged in various types of barrels, whether new or having previously held wine or spirits.

Sunday, November 15

The first BevMo! Holiday Beer Fest will be held at Fort Mason’s Herbst Pavilion in downtown San Francisco on Sunday November 15th from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. The event will feature 50+ Holiday, Seasonal & Special, “soon-to-be-released beers. Tickets are $35 in advance, and can be purchased online, or $45 at the door the day of the event.

IN THE COMING WEEKS

Monday, November 16

Monday, November 16, 2009

From 5:00 to 8:00 p.m., Rogue Ales Public House at 673 Union Street in San Francisco will be holding their annual Cheese and Barley Wine pairing, Dusty & Crusty. Hosted by Sheana Davis of the Epicurean Connection, 7 years of vintage Rogue Old Crustacean Barley Wine will be paired with artisan cheeses from Delice de la Vallee, Rogue Creamery, Widmer Cellars, Carr Valley Cheese Company, Bohemian Creamery and Mato St. George. Tickets are available at Rogue Ales Public House or by calling 415.362.7880.

Sean and 21A’s Shaun (that’s two Shawns folks) and Nico collaborated on Monk’s Blood Beer this past February for Strong Beer Month, then took the recipe to Belgium where they further collaborated with the West Flander’s brewery De Struisse Brouwers, the makers of old world style Belgian beers with a new world approach. They then brought the recipe back to San Francisco this past summer brewing and refining it further before heading out to the 21A production brewery in Minnesota for wider release.

The cost for the five-course beer dinner is $95, including tax and tip. Call 415-369-0900 for reservations.

Instead of retiring from his plastic manufacturing business and playing golf, Jeff Cranor has joined forces with his son Collin to launch Nottingham Cellars, the Livermore Valley’s 46th winery.

The Cranors, of San Leandro, source fruit from Lodi, Livermore, and Napa Valley for their inaugural wines, which include a Viognier and a Bordeaux blend called Ralphi’s, which is 60 percent Livermore Cabernet Sauvignon.Wines range from $18 to $45.

Despite troubled times, the Cranors even managed to set up shop in a tasting room at 2245 S. Vasco Road. The wine will be flowing for free at their three-day launch party, Nov. 20-22. To RSVP, visit their web site, www.nottinghamcellars.com.

By the way, winery No. 45, Occasio, opened last month in the Livermore Valley and also has a tasting room on S. Vasco Road. Their current releases, a Sauvignon Blanc, Merlot, Petit Sirah, and Pinot Gris, are crafted solely from grapes grown in the Livermore Valley. Check them out on their web site, www.occasiowinery.com.

It’s time once again for Bruce Paton, better known as the Beer Chef, to share some of his culinary magic with us, this time around on the subject of pairing beer with the upcoming Thanksgiving meal.

Food & Beer with Bruce Paton

Giving Thanks With Beer and Food

So here it is time once again to embark on the Holiday Season and with the economy slowly rising from the ashes it is time to gather with family and friends and celebrate at the dinner table albeit with an eye on the old pocketbook. As a professional chef I have spent a lot of time in hotel kitchens preparing Thanksgiving feasts for those who would rather go out on the town and celebrate to avoid going through all the muss and fuss of turning their homes into a busy restaurant for one evening and facing the daunting task of cleaning up after being sated by copious amounts of food and spirits. Also there is the possibility that they are following a long-standing family tradition or maybe they are just to tired out from the rigors of work and the other factors of life that tend to wear folks down. As a professional chef I have also spent a lot of time in the kitchens of family, friends and colleagues either orchestrating or assisting in the preparation of many a holiday meal because this is one of the things I really take pleasure in. One of the reasons I became a professional chef is that I enjoy making people happy through food as well as the instant emotional rewards that the process can bring. There are also the feelings of accomplishment of creating something from start to finish and the celebration of a job well done. If you are indeed eyeballing your wallet like a great many of us “home for the holidays” is a great way to go. In order to wash down your holiday meal without raiding your retirement plan beer is an excellent choice as well.

So lets get started and have some fun with beer and food. Whether you plan on sticking to the traditional Thanksgiving line up of turkey, stuffing, yams and pumpkin pie or you want to branch out and do something else beer and assist you in many ways. After you have decided on the menu and the guest list, sent out the invitations and done all your shopping I would recommend opening a beer and pouring yourself a glass. As well you know there are a litany of beers to choose from and I would suggest availing yourself of a few different styles for the various parts of the day and evening. For the chef’s consumption during the cooking chores I would choose something light and refreshing to quench your thirst as you toil over the cutting board and hot stove or grill. Might I suggest a Trumer Pilsner, Lagunitas Czech Style or maybe a Saison Dupont so that you are hydrated and alert when your guests arrive. Beer also makes a wonderful ingredient for some of the holiday menu items. If you are bringing your turkey, beer can be added to the liquid to give a more complex flavor to the final result. Try adding some Rogue Hazelnut Brown Nectar to the candied yams or a splash of Paulaner Hefeweizen to your salad dressing the possibilities are endless. A further benefit of cooking with beer is that you can consume the leftovers and nothing goes to waste. As for beer with the hors D’Oeuvre portion you may offer you guests some Pilsner or Saison (if there is any remaining) or perhaps a medley of choices augmenting those two choices with the Hefeweizen and some Russian River Blind Pig. When it is time to sit down for the feast there are a myriad of options to accompany the noble bird. There is the beer of Ocktoberfest, a malty German style Marzen (brewed in March to be consumed in October) that will complement the roasted flavors of the turkey or possibly a Chimay Grand Reserve (after all we are celebrating aren’t we) to add to the rich flavors of the dinner meal. Again ther are a plethora of choices for beer as well as any number of ways to upgrade the menu items to add a little pizzazz. So get the menu figured out and shopping list started and get down to City Beer on Folsom near Eighth Street and you will be all set.

The brewers in and around Sacramento got together last week to begin planning their own Sacramento Craft Beer Week. Tentative dates are February 24-28 of next year, a few weeks after SF Beer Week. Watch their website as new developments unfold.

What is it? “It’s an excursion of Belgian-style and Belgian-influenced beers, six from each brewery. Grab a boarding pass and take a trip to Belgium via Magnolia and the 21st Amendment. The first three beers at each brewery hit the taps on Monday, 11/2 and then both breweries will release a new beer every Monday for the rest of the month. Try all 12 and get the special commemorative glass.”

The beers will be released throughout the month by the following schedule:

The Bistro in Hayward will be hosting their annual Barrel Aged Festival, which will feature beers aged in various types of barrels, whether new or having previously held wine or spirits.

Sunday, November 15

The first BevMo! Holiday Beer Fest will be held at Fort Mason’s Herbst Pavilion in downtown San Francisco on Sunday November 15th from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. The event will feature 50+ Holiday, Seasonal & Special, “soon-to-be-released beers. Tickets are $35 in advance, and can be purchased online, or $45 at the door the day of the event.

Sean and 21A’s Shaun (that’s two Shawns folks) and Nico collaborated on Monk’s Blood Beer this past February for Strong Beer Month, then took the recipe to Belgium where they further collaborated with the West Flander’s brewery De Struisse Brouwers, the makers of old world style Belgian beers with a new world approach. They then brought the recipe back to San Francisco this past summer brewing and refining it further before heading out to the 21A production brewery in Minnesota for wider release.

The cost for the five-course beer dinner is $95, including tax and tip. Call 415-369-0900 for reservations.

I was confused by Keith Wallace’s Daily Beast article, “How Wine Become Like Fast Food.” It’s about the fact that there aren’t as many actual wineries with physical addresses in the country as some wine consumers may have thought.

The headline reads like there will be some scandalous exposure of the wine industry, like jug merlot is the next pawn in our national war on obesity. In reality, we all know that big brands and cheap conglomerates make up the majority of wines purchased and consumed by average Americans.

Big deal. They’re drinkable and affordable, and unlike French fries or double decker hamburgers, fermented grape juice doesn’t clog your arteries and isn’t any better or worst for you if it’s made in the old Sutter Home facility (now known as The Ranch) or a Pomerol chateau.

What confuses me the most is that after exposing the ills of mass produced wine, the author ends by saying that there are actually plenty of wineries out there, and that there’s no need to despair. Even worst, he says you have to choose between authenticity and value. I do not agree.

The next time you visit your wine merchant, tell him or her you have $10 to spend on a bottle and want it to come from a “real” winery. You shouldn’t have a problem.

Times are tough. Presents are expensive. Still, that doesn’t change the fact that the gift-giving holidays are next month, and we gotta pony up for our loved ones.

With that, here’s the first annual Corkheads Holiday Wish List. Cast your vote for the best wine gift, or better yet, post your own ideas. Whoever has the most creative idea wins a bottle of wintery petit sirah.

We did dinner at Pizza Antica last night, where thin, Naples style pizzas are decorated with light fare, such as arugula, goat cheese and olive oil drizzles.

With this kind of pie, as opposed to the deep dish stuff at Zachary’s, I really like drinking pinot noir, like this Rossi-Wallace from the Antinori Vineyard in Napa Valley.

The wine ($35) is just pretty. It sparkles like a jewel and because it is aged in spicy Burgundian oak (only 30 percent of the oak is new), the fruit – wild and full of cherries – dances on top of the wood. It’s integrated, but subtle enough as to not interfere with the crisp, cracker-like delicate pizza.

While I love cabernet sauvignon and zinfandel with pizza, I think those wines would soak this “bread.” Rather, a wine like the 2007 Rossi-Wallace, with its earthy aromas and acidity, paired beautifully with the earthiness of the goat cheese and mushrooms and the acidity of the sundried tomatoes.

Can you dig it? Rossi-Wallace is mailing-list and online only, so you can find their low production, boutique wines on the Rossi-Wallace web site.